TEXAS SPECIAL SESSION: The Texas Senate spent hours yesterday, arguing during the Special Legislative Session in Austin over a bill restricting transgender access to public school bathrooms which forced the postponement of final votes on half a dozen other measures; including bills on property tax reform and school vouchers. In Senate Chambers, Republican Senator Lois Kolkhorst of Katy laid out the so-called "Bathroom Bill"....Senate-Bill 3 for its second reading. Kolkhorst, a former student athlete, stressed that among other things, the bill would prohibit biological males from playing on women’s sports teams. Republican House Speaker Joe Straus has sharpened his criticism of the bill and sides with Apple, Amazon and other big-name companies that call the bill discriminatory and bad for Texas businesses. Social conservatives say the bill is a needed privacy safeguard. The bill now moves to the state House of Representatives, where passage is uncertain.
